just spent the last hour checking the card, and there look to be some good bets today! looks like tennis is off as well.....Sweden v Slovakia it is then.... Last abandonment was nearly 60 years ago apparently!
All the people out on the track trying to look important, no way its going ahead after all this. 5 mins of fame like the starter at Cheltenham and aintree
Two monster Friday gambles are unfolding at Down Royal where an Emmet Mullins-trained horse has been backed from 100-1 into evens, while the same trainer has another representative in a later race whose price has collapsed from 8-1 into 4-7. The horse at the centre of the gamble is the aptly named Shake Him Up (2.20), with both Ladbrokes and Paddy Power reporting that they have laid the horse at 100-1. He was beaten 103 lengths in a maiden hurdle at Fairyhouse on his latest start and prior to that finished eighth of 13, beaten 65 lengths, at Thurles. On his debut he was beaten 282 lengths in a Punchestown bumper. The Racing Post Spotlight comment for Shake Him Up reads: "Shown nothing in four runs so far and failed to beat a rival when 125-1 at Fairyhouse when last seen, jumping poorly."
Well, after looking for soft ground horses all morning - abandonment aside, here are my ones to avoid! Asc 230 Eve Lodge 305 Alenquer 340 Deagon Symbol 420 Pretty Gorgeous 500 Belief 535 Win O’Clock ew 610 Mo Celita Good luck all, assuming it goes ahead
You keep hearing about proponents of summer football to beat the winter weather , they all forget how wet summer days can be !! All the worst floods are in the summer months,.......
FLOTUS looks a pretty solid favourite in the first, but it looks a very competitive opening race. I also like the look of Lady Ayresome and Sunstrike at bigger prices ps it looks like a monsoon at Ascot right now - what's the chances of racing still being abandoned after the first race ?
Pleased, and a little surprised, that Royal Ascot Day 4 is going ahead. Parts of the track could still be tricky, so the main thing is, horses and jockeys return home safe and sound: 17:35 Ascot - Tritonic (Should stay the trip well, and also should handle the heavy ground, judging on past form. Decent performer on the Flat and Hurdles. Ryan Moore takes the ride for dual-purpose trainer Alan King. 8/1 freely-available at time of writing. e/w maybe best?)
Amazed that Ascot is on yet Goodwood, on the chalk Sussex Downs is off. I know that when the place was rebuilt in 2005 they dug up part of the course and improved the drainage but more than an inch of rain on firm ground ought to have been too much. With them having to move the rails down at Swinley Bottom and other parts of the round course, I expect that race distances today may not be very accurate. At least ground conditions will stop the ijuts from going off like scalded cats in the races on the straight course, so what draw advantage will there be on very soft ground?
We are all guessing to an extent with these once raced fillies in particular. It obviously helps if they have won on soft before but I think the changed odds reflect that and Flotus is short enough at 5/2. Hello You is out to 7/1 and while it might now be good news for a daughter of Invincible Spirit, she has only run at Wolverhampton on an artificial surface and it did look like it had been pissing down with rain that day. Not a race to go in heavy on in any case with so many well bred fillies in the line up. The rains have been good news for my ante-post bets running today. Suesa is unbeaten and has won on soft in good style. She was the most exciting looking dark horse I saw in France this season and she already owes me nothing. I backed her at 20/1 for the Commonwealth Cup and my biggest concern was potential faster ground. The trainer has said that nothing he trains can match Suesa and added that he felt she hit the front too soon last time out and probably needs holding up for longer. Obviously it is nice having 20/1 ante-post on a horse now priced 5/2 but it's only any good when they go on and win the race. Campanelle is unraced since the Breeder's Cup where she was 4th. She won the Morny on soft ground but that is a race where there has been only one win from 27 subsequent runs. That winner was Tactical, who was thumped next time in a Listed race and his win in the Free Handicap has worked out terribly since. I don;t see any value in Campanelle coming in without proving her well being this season and her price is more reflective of her trainer having had really smart fillies in the past than the actual strength of Campanelle's form and her Queen Mary win from Sacred last season was atypical of a Ward 5F horse. Dragon Symbol has been prominent in the betting for this race for some time. He narrowly lost his unbeaten record last time in the Sandy Lane Stakes. The ground was heavy and he only went down by a nose. His previous win was at Hamilton and that's not usually a breeding ground for Royal Ascot and his overall form seems easy to pick holes in. I had a decent bet on A Case Of You on his second start this year, He ran no race at all that day but was well backed and it turned out he was facing one Poetic Flare anyway. A Case Of You was more like it when winning next time but I feel he needs to come forward again here. In the Coronation I have Pretty Gorgeous at 7/1 ante-post. The rain should help and while she was entitled to need the race last time, I didn't see enough to be confident today. 3.40 Ascot Suesa 20/1 (Ante-post) 4.20 Ascot Pretty Gorgeous 7/1 (Ante-post)
I wish I were at Ascot with that cooling rain. We have 34°C in Berlin today, same tomorrow and then 36°C on Sunday. A real gusset greaser - a full package of talcum powder deployed around my undercarriage.
The Queen just texted me, it reads:- "Grendel, one has got a forecast. ps my arse is soaking" That's made my meeting. I reckon Prettiest will be the one to take from it. That was a mighty effort on ground that probably didn't suit. Some effort from the Balding stable in landing this as well as the Coventry. Hello You gave it a damn good go and just for a while looked like she might hold on but for once the chasing Cavalry were the good guys! Flotus was very disappointing and they can hardly use the ground as an excuse after winning on soft last time. Maybe it just wasn't a good race she landed.